1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inverted merged magnetoresistive (MR) head with a plated notched first pole tip and a self-aligned second pole tip, and more particularly to an inverted merged MR head in which a top pole tip portion of a first pole piece is plated to form a notch and defines the track width of the head, and a second pole tip, which is notch-shaped, and confines flux transfer between the pole tips substantially within the defined track width.
2. Description of the Related Art
An inductive write head includes a coil layer embedded in first, second and third insulation layers (insulation stack), the insulation stack being located between first and second vole piece layers. A gap is formed between the first and second pole piece layers by a gap layer at an air bearing surface (ABS) of the write head. The pole piece layers are connected at a back gap. Currents are conducted through the coil layer, which produce magnetic fields in the pole pieces. The magnetic fields fringe across the gap at the ABS for the purpose of writing information in tracks on moving media, such as in circular tracks on a rotating magnetic disk or in longitudinal tracks on a moving magnetic tape.
The second pole piece layer has a pole tip portion which extends from the ABS to a flare point, and a yoke portion which extends from the flare point to the back gap. The flare point is where the second pole piece begins to widen (flare) to form the yoke. The placement of the flare point directly affects the magnitude of the magnetic field produced to write information on the recording medium. Since magnetic flux decays as it travels down the length of the narrow second pole tip, shortening the second pole tip will increase the magnitude of the flux reaching the recording media. Therefore, performance can be optimized by aggressively placing the flare point close to the ABS.
Another parameter important in the design of an inductive write head is the location of the zero throat height (ZTH). The zero throat height is the location where the first and second pole pieces first separate from one another after the ABS. Such separation is imposed by an insulation layer, typically the first insulation layer in the insulation stack. Flux leakage between the first and second pole pieces is minimized by locating the ZTH as close as possible to the ABS.
Unfortunately, the aforementioned design parameters require a tradeoff in the fabrication of the second pole tip. The second pole tip should be well-defined in order to write well-defined tracks on the rotating disk. Poor definition of the second pole tip may result in overwriting of adjacent tracks. A well-defined second pole tip should have parallel planar side walls which are perpendicular to the ABS. A sharp perpendicular definition of the side walls is difficult to achieve because the second pole tip is typically formed along with the yoke after the formation of the first insulation layer, the coil layer and the second and third insulation layers. Each insulation layer includes a hard-baked photoresist having a sloping front surface. After construction, the first, second and third insulation layers present front sloping surfaces which face the ABS. The ZTH defining insulation layer rises from a plane normal to the ABS at an angle (apex angle) to the plane. After hard baking of the insulation layers and deposition of a metallic seedlayer, the sloping surfaces of the insulation layers exhibit a high optical reflectivity. When the second pole tip and yoke are constructed, a thick layer of photoresist is spun on top of the insulation layers and photo-patterned to shape the second pole tip, using a conventional photolithography technique. In the photo-lithography step, ultraviolet light is directed vertically through slits in an opaque mask, exposing areas of the photoresist which are to be removed by a subsequent development step. One of the areas to be removed is the area where the second pole piece (pole tip and yoke) is to be formed by plating. Unfortunately, when ultraviolet light strikes the sloping surfaces of the insulation layers in a flaring region of the second pole piece, the ultraviolet light is reflected forward, toward the ABS, into photoresist areas at the sides of the second pole tip region. After development, the side walls of the photoresist extend outwardly from the intended ultraviolet pattern, causing the pole tip plated therein to be poorly formed. This is called "reflective notching". As stated, this causes overwriting of adjacent tracks on a rotating disk. It should be evident that, if the flare point is recessed far enough into the head, the effect of reflective notching would be reduced or eliminated since it would occur behind the sloping surfaces. However, this solution produces a long second pole tip which quickly reduces the magnitude of flux reaching the recording medium.
The high profile of the insulation stack causes another problem after the photoresist is spun on a wafer When the photoresist is spun on a wafer, it is substantially planarized across the wafer. The thickness of the resist in the second pole tip region is higher than other regions of the head since the second pole tip is substantially lower on the wafer than the yoke portion of the second pole piece. During the light exposure step, the light progressively scatters in the deep photoresist like light in a body of water, causing poor resolution during the light exposure step.
A scheme for minimizing the reflective notching and resolution problems is to construct the second pole piece with bottom and top second pole tips. The bottom second pole tip is constructed before the insulation layers to eliminate the reflective notching problem. After forming the first pole piece layer and the write gap layer, a photoresist layer is spun on the partially completed head. Ultraviolet light from the photo-patterning step is not reflected forward since the photoresist layer does not cover an insulation stack. Further, the photoresist is significantly thinner in the pole tip region so that significantly less light scattering takes place. After plating the bottom second pole tip, the photoresist layer is removed and the first insulation layer, the coil layer, and the second and third insulation layers are formed. After the top second pole tip is stitched (connected) to the bottom second pole tip, it extends from the ABS to the back gap. Since the bottom second pole tip is well-formed, well-formed notches can be made in the first pole piece, as discussed hereinafter. However, with this scheme, the ZTH is dependent upon the location of the recessed end of the bottom second pole tip. Since the bottom second pole tip has to be long enough to provide a sufficient stitching area, this length may result in undesirable flux leakage between the first and second pole pieces. Since the top second pole tip is typically wider than the bottom second pole tip, the second pole piece has a T-shape at the ABS. The upright portion of the T is the front edge of the bottom second pole tip, and the cross of the T is the front edge of the top second pole tip. A problem with this configuration is that, during operation, flux fringes from the outer corners of the top second pole tip to a much wider first pole piece at the ABS, causing adjacent tracks to be overwritten.
Once the bottom second pole tip is formed, it is desirable to notch the first pole tip of the first pole piece opposite the first and second corners at the base of the bottom second pole tip so that flux transfer between the pole tips does not stray beyond the track width defined by the bottom second pole tip. Notching provides the first pole piece with a track width that substantially matches the track width of the bottom second pole tip. A prior art process for notching the first pole piece entails milling the gap layer and the first pole piece with an ion beam, employing the bottom second pole tip as a mask. The gap layer is typically alumina and the first and second pole pieces and pole tips are typically Permalloy (NiFe). The alumina mills more slowly than the Permalloy; thus the top of the bottom second pole tip and a top surface of the first pole piece are milled more quickly than the gap layer. Further, during ion milling, a substantial amount of alumina is redeposited on surfaces of the workpiece. (Redeposited alumina is referred to as "redep"). In order to minimize redep, the milling ion beam is typically directed at an angle to a normal through the layers, which performs milling and cleanup simultaneously. The gap layer in the field remote from the first and second corners of the bottom second pole tip is the first to be milled because of a shadowing effect at the first and second corners caused by the bottom second pole tip when the ion beam is angled. In this case, the ion beam will overmill the first pole piece before the gap layer is removed adjacent the first and second corners of the bottom second pole tip in the region where the notching is to take place. After the gap layer is removed above the sites where the notching is to take place, ion milling continues in order to notch the first pole piece. Overmilling of the first pole piece continues to take place in the field beyond the notches, thereby forming surfaces of the first pole piece that slope downwardly from the notches. As is known, such overmilling of the first pole piece can expose leads to the MR sensor, thereby rendering the head inoperative.
Even if overmilling of the first pole piece can be controlled, there is potentially a more troublesome problem, namely overmilling the top of the bottom second pole tip when the unwanted portions of the gap layer are milled and notches are formed. In order to compensate for this overmilling, the aspect ratio (ratio of thickness of photoresist to track width of the bottom second pole tip) is increased so that a top portion of the top of the bottom second pole tip can be sacrificed during the milling steps. When the aspect ratio is increased, definition of the bottom second pole tip is degraded because of the thickness of the photoresist, discussed hereinabove, resulting in track overwriting.
Another problem with the prior art merged MR head is that the profile of the MR sensor between the first and second gap layers is replicated through the second shield/first pole piece layer to the write gap layer causing the write gap layer to have the shape of a slightly concave curve oriented toward the MR sensor. As a result, when the write head portion of the merged MR head writes data, the footprint of the written data is slightly curved on the written track. When a straight MR sensor reads this curved data in a data track, there is progressive signal loss from the center of the data track toward the outer extremities of the data track.
Accordingly, there is a strong-felt need to provide an inductive write head portion of a merged MR head wherein a track width defining pole tip can be formed without reflective notching or a curved write gap.